The Unvanquished Chapter 2: Retreat Summary

Section 1

  • Granny has Loosh get the wagon out and load everything in it. She says that she'll do what John told her and dig up the silver and head to Memphis.
  • When Louvinia says that it would be better to leave the silver buried and safe, Granny tells her that she had a dream that a black man was pointing to where the trunk was buried. And we know dreams are to be trusted as far as this lil' book is concerned.
  • Joby wants to put the trunk directly into the wagon and leave it overnight because it's so heavy, but Granny makes him, Loosh, Ringo, and Bayard carry it upstairs behind her bed.
  • She locks her bedroom door, which Ringo and Bayard didn't even know had a key.
  • Louvinia sends the boys to bed.

Section 2

  • The boys put on their Sunday best in the morning, and Granny makes Joby put the musket into the wagon, even though he says they won't need it. A nice 'nother dash of foreboding.
  • Granny makes Joby and Loosh bring the trunk back down the stairs and load it into the wagon. She, Ringo, Bayard, and Joby head out. Bye bye, childhood home.
  • They leave Granny at a neighbor's, Mrs. Compson's, to say goodbye, and head into town to pick up some supplies from the store.
  • Uncle Buck McCaslin comes over hollering at them because he recognizes Bayard as John Sartoris' son. A Confederate captain also approaches to listen. First Uncle Buck praises John's bravery, but then he calls him a fool because he is too afraid to stay home from the war (which Uncle Buck clearly did).
  • He also says that Sartoris doesn't fight; he just steals horses.
  • Uncle Buck tells the boys to take care of Granny, and they head back to pick her up.
  • They go down to get a drink during a break and Bayard gives Ringo some dirt from home in exchange for a buckle off of the saddle on the Yankee horse they had shot the summer before. Aw.
  • On the road again, some Confederate soldiers ride up and tell Granny that the road is full of Yankee patrols, and that it would be best to delay their journey. She says she'll do what Colonel Sartoris told her to, which is keep going to Memphis.
  • They ride for a couple of days, passing burnt-down houses, when suddenly some Yankees surround them, steal their mules, and ride off again.
  • Ringo and Bayard run off after the mules, but they can't catch them and they steal a white horse from a nearby barn. It may be pretty, but it sure is slow, and they can't keep up with their mules.
  • They follow their tracks, though, which Ringo says are leading back home.
  • Suddenly they are attacked again and they hide in a briar patch, but it's Bayard's own father who fishes them out. Coincidence! First thing's first: he asks where Granny is.
  • They admit that they forgot her (nice going, brats), and they all head back to get her. But she's already gone.
  • The boys get to ride some "borrowed" Yankee horses back home. On their way John spots a Yankee camp and tells the boys to surround them. He tells them to make lots of noise, so that they will think there are more of them than there are. Smart thinkin'.
  • They capture all of the Yankees' food, clothes, horses, and weapons, and let them sneak off in the night wearing their blankets.

Section 3

  • John, Bayard, and Ringo arrive home at the same time that Granny does. She doesn't even acknowledge them. Can you blame her? They forgot her, after all.
  • She has her own set of "borrowed" horses and won't say where she got them. Uh huh…
  • After dinner the next day fifty Union soldiers show up and John takes off running, leaving everyone else to figure out what to do on their own.
  • So many things going on! Loosh showed the soldiers where the silver is buried. The soldiers have set the house on fire. Granny is beside herself. Can you blame her?
  • Loosh and Philadelphy leave, considering themselves freed, and Granny, Ringo, and Bayard are left behind saying over and over "The bastuds!"
  • This time she does not wash their mouths out with soap.